


Fathers, Be Good

by ariadne83, somehowunbroken



Category: DCU
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadne83/pseuds/ariadne83, https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last person that Dick expects to hear talking when he picks up his phone is Jason, who has been dead for years. Except he isn’t anymore, apparently, and Dick can hear a baby screaming in the background as Jason asks him for help. What is there for Dick to do but drop everything and run to help his long-lost brother?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fathers, Be Good

**Author's Note:**

> This is our entry for the 2012 [dcu_bang](http://dcu-bang.livejournal.com/)! Thanks to shinysylver for excellent beta work :)
> 
> We were lucky enough to work with two artists for this fic! Check out [the header that shinysylver made](http://i.imgur.com/4LT24.png), and the [lovely illustration that chibifukurou drew](http://chibifukurou.livejournal.com/58223.html)!

It’s not often that days off are really days off when you’re a vigilante; they tend to get filled with things like _well, I have free time to look over that case_ or _might as well do a little surveillance_. Today, though, is a real day off, and Dick plans to enjoy it.

It’s only a few minutes after he makes the executive decision to not do much of anything that his phone rings. Dick answers, and the first thing he hears is, "Please don't hang up on me, just - please."

"Jason?" Dick says the first name that pops into his head, even though it makes no sense. Jason is dead and has been for years. It can’t be him, but Dick can’t help but hear Jason in the caller’s voice.

"Talia was here, and she... Dick, you have to help me."

Dick sits straight up on the couch. _Fuck._ Talia al Ghul. So this has to be real; fuck, Jason is alive. Dick firmly pushes his freak-out to the back of his head, because this is his little brother, somehow, and he clearly needs help. "Where are you?"

Jason starts to mumble out an address, but a baby's wail cuts him off.

"No, stop, please stop," Jason says, and it doesn't sound like the first time he's said that. "I don't know what you want, okay? I'm trying to ask, but you gotta give me a minute."

"Jason, is that - are you trying to reason with a baby?"

"Congratulations, you're an uncle," Jason says, which makes less than no sense, but Dick just puts it in the pile of things to think about later. "Please, please help me out here, Dick. How do I get her to stop crying?"

"Who the hell left you with a baby?" Dick blurts out before he can stop himself.

"Talia. I _told_ you! Just... please help me?" Jason's voice wobbles like he's going to start crying next.

"I'm on my way to the car," Dick says, grabbing his keys and jamming his feet into his shoes. "Location, Jason, come on."

Jason rattles off an address above the sound of the baby’s cries. Dick jots it down and heads for the door, thinking quickly. "When's the last time you fed her?" he asks.

"Uh, well, Talia dropped her off about three hours ago, so - before that?"

"Okay, so, food. I'm guessing you don't have anything handy." Jason just snorts. "I'll stop on my way. How old is she? That matters for food and diapers and stuff."

"I don't know. Little. She's tiny, Dick."

"Try. Any little thing Talia said would be really helpful right now. Just think, Jay."

"Uh." Dick hears a hollow knocking sound - probably Jason tapping himself on the forehead. He did that when - does that. He does that, because he's alive. The need to freak out is creeping back in, but Dick pushes it back and concentrates on what Jason is saying.

"Talia said something like ‘three days is too long to be out of contact’ before she left."

Dick narrows his eyes, thinking. "Is the baby kinda red all over? Spiky-looking hair, fists all clenched up, legs pulled kinda near to her chest like a frog?"

"Yeah?"

"Talia, you are a piece of work." It's all Dick can muster up.

Jason’s voice is anxious. "What? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing, Jay,” Dick says quickly. “Sorry, I just - she's a newborn. Two or three days, from what Talia said and what you’re telling me."

"That's really, really young." Jason takes a breath. "Is she - can she be okay without a mom when she's this little? Do I need to take her to a doctor or something?"

"You need to not panic," Dick says. It's not quite his Nightwing-voice, but it's close enough. "I'm going to pick up a few things, and then I'm going to come over, and we're going to figure this out, okay?"

"Okay," Jason says, and Dick honestly isn't sure if he's agreeing or parroting at this point. "I'll just sit here with her, I guess."

“Good plan,” Dick says. “"In the meantime, take off your shirt."

"What?"

Dick grins, picturing the look on Jason’s face. "When they're that little they like skin contact, and hearing your heartbeat."

There's definite hesitation before Dick hears cloth rustling. "So I should take her out of her blanket, and her little - jumper thing?"

"Unwrap her," Dick directs, pulling in at the grocery store. "Leave the clothes on, if it's just a little onesie thing. Short sleeves, no pants, snaps up the front or between her legs?"

"Yeah."

Dick nods as he climbs out of the car. "Lean against the couch, put her against your chest, and cover her back up with the blanket. Babies lose heat really easily."

There are more shuffling noises, and then the relief of the baby's sobs settling a little.

"Okay, good. Now look around: did Talia leave you anything? A bag or an envelope?"

Dick grabs a shopping cart and heads into the store while Jason presumably looks around. "I don't see anything."

"Okay. That's fine. We'll have to take her to a doctor eventually, get her weighed and everything, but for now just... sit."

"Sit," Jason repeats. "I can handle that. It might be all I can handle, but-" He breaks off.

Dick stops pushing the cart. "Jason?"

"She fell asleep on me." He sounds shocked.

Dick smiles. "She likes your voice, Jay. That's a good thing."

He tucks the phone between his shoulder and his chin and goes up and down every aisle, gathering all the supplies he can think of - diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, cheap terry cloth towels. After a moment of deliberation, he grabs bowls, spoons, and a pot. He has no idea what's in Jason's house, and Jason isn’t in much of a state to tell him, even with the baby asleep on his chest.

He just keeps babbling - about training, about Talia, about The Pit. That last one turns Dick's stomach, but it's a little too much to think about right now, and if Jason is content to fill the silence that means that Dick doesn't have to. He takes a look through what he's gathered up and decides that it’s good enough for now.

The cashier smiles sympathetically when Dick starts unloading the things form the cart. "New baby?"

Dick smiles. "My brother just brought his kid home from the hospital," he says, tilting his head to show the phone. "Her mom, uh, didn’t stick around. I'm helping out." It probably says something about Gotham that the cashier doesn't blink at Dick's story. She just nods and starts ringing him up. 

"That's sweet of you, hon,” she says as she bags item after item. “You're a good brother."

"I'm trying," Dick says, which is nothing less than the truth.

"Fucking _BATMAN_ ," Jason yells in his ear, which is apparently the pinnacle of a long rant that Dick had missed.

Dick sighs as the baby starts to cry again. "Be as mad as you want, Jay, but you gotta quit yelling. She’s already freaked out enough."

"Shit. Sorry, little bird." Jason makes shushing noises, but the crying only gets louder.

"I think that's my cue. See you in ten, little brother." Dick smiles at the cashier and nods his thanks as he heads for the exit.

Jason sighs on the other end of the line. "Thank fuck."

The cashier smiles back as Dick hangs up. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Dick calls as he opens the door. "We'll probably need it."

He actually makes it to the address Jason gave him in eight minutes, but he drives around the block twice before coming to a stop. He's really, really hoping he's got the wrong number, because this... is not a house. This is a warehouse, and is therefore nowhere a baby should be. He walks up and knocks on the normal house-type door, right next to a garage-type door. "Jason?"

There’s nothing for a moment, and then the sound of something - some _one_ \- very tiny shrieking. The sound gets closer and closer to the door, and then it opens, revealing Jason cradling a red-faced newborn to his bare chest.

Dick shakes his head at the sight. "Tell me you have some way to boil water."

"Nice to see you too." Jason thrusts the baby at him and shoulders past. Dick panics momentarily, but Jason just goes to the car and pulls out grocery bags.

"Hey, little girl," Dick murmurs, looking down at the baby. She really is small; his estimate was probably right. There's no way she's more than a few days old. Her skin tone lends credence to her being Talia's child, but the line of her nose is all Jason. "Well, you're a surprise, aren't you?"

"Gonna be her middle name," Jason says, walking past with the bags in hand. "Maybe her first name, too. Surprise Surprise Todd. I haven't really decided yet."

"You're keeping her?" Dick blurts before he can think about it.

Jason goes absolutely still, bags swinging from his hands. "I'm not giving her up. Not here, not to this fucked-up system-"

"Okay, okay," Dick says, shaking his head. "I can't even tell you how many curveballs you're throwing at me right now, Jay. I'm sorry if I offended you, but you have to remember that until an hour ago, I thought that you were _dead_. Now I find out that you're alive, you're in Gotham, and you have a baby."

"Whatever,” Jason mutters, but his shoulders lose some of their tension. “Just make her stop crying."

Dick sighs and strokes the baby’s arm. "It really will help if you calm down. She's probably freaking out because you’re freaking out, plus the fact that neither of us smells like her mom."

"There's nothing I can do about that," Jason says, and it's like the fight drains out of his system. "I don't know where she is. I don't know why she left the baby here. I didn't even know there was going to _be_ a baby." He scowls. "Safe sex _isn't_ ; poster child: me."

"Okay. it's okay, we'll figure it out." Dick shakes his head as he surveys his younger brother. _Don't get distracted, don't look at Jason's scars, just... don't._

That’s easier said than done when Jason barges ahead and elbows the door open, holding it for Dick so he can get the baby inside out of the sun. Jason’s muscles shift and bunch, and the ugly mess of skin stretched over his shoulder blades looks like it’s almost tight enough to split.

Dick brings the baby up to his face to muzzle his urge to scream. He keeps his head down as he moves into the warehouse, and doesn’t dare look up when Jason sets down his first load and heads back to the car.

"Jesus, how much stuff did you buy?" Jason frowns down at the half a dozen bags crammed into his arms as he walks back in.

Dick shrugs. "All of it; all the stuff. Everything we need, at least. I hope."

Jason peeks into one of the bags. "I don't even know what half of this shit is."

"Find the pot and the bottle of water, and set it to boil,” Dick directs. “We'll sort the rest out after we make up a bottle." Dick fervently hopes the baby knows how to drink from a bottle. Talia wouldn't breastfeed a kid she was intending to give up, would she?

Jason digs out the pot and the formula powder, and brightens when he looks at the side of the box. "Oh, hey, instructions. I can do instructions. I was really good at mac and cheese."

They dance around each other pretty well, pouring, stirring, and baby-jiggling. They're still so aware of each other, even though Jason has doubled his muscle mass. It makes Dick's chest ache, makes his head hurt with memories of the two of them on patrol.

Dick tests the formula on the inside of his wrist when Jason hands him the bottle. It's a little warm, so he shakes it as he nods at the couch. "Sit."

Jason follows orders, which is and isn’t new. Dick arranges the baby in his arms and hands Jason the bottle. "Tip it up so she's not sucking the air in."

Jason pokes her mouth with the nipple, and the baby latches on and starts sucking. Dick breathes an internal sigh of relief. Thank god.

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with you," Jason says softly, looking straight into her eyes. The baby ignores him completely in favor of the bottle.

Dick smiles as he watches. He’s never wished for a camera more in his life. "You're making a good start."

Jason shakes his head. "No, I... this wasn't in the plan."

"What plan?"

" _My_ plan. Which is utterly fucked now," he says tightly, and the baby stops sucking on her bottle to turn her head away and whine.

"Is it one of those plans that you can put on hold?" Dick suggests.

"It's one of those plans that you'd talk me out of," Jason says immediately. "And it’s possible that by 'talk' I mean 'beat', but the sentiment is the same." He sighs. "And no, it really isn't. It's... not something that you do when there's a kid to consider."

Dick feels his entire body lock up. "Jason, promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"Can't do anything stupid now," he shrugs. "Apparently I have a kid to worry about, and like hell am I going to do something to risk her safety."

"What were you going to do, Jay?" Dick asks.

Jason shakes his head. "It doesn't matter now, and you don't really want to know."

Dick narrows his eyes. "If you're in trouble, yeah, I want to know. We're family."

Jason snorts. "Yeah, I can see the welcome wagon now: reckless street punk back from the dead, roll on up."

The baby whimpers and presses her face into his elbow.

"Y'know, she's too little to understand words, but she can pick up tone of voice and body language just fine." Dick leans over and runs his finger over the back of the baby’s hand.

Jason pulls in a breath, holds it, and breathes out slowly. He nudges the baby's lips with the bottle until she starts drinking again. "I was going to break the Joker out of Arkham, get Bruce to meet me somewhere, and see if he'd kill the bastard if I asked. Begged. Whatever."

Dick wants to cry. He wants to throw up. He wants to grab Jason by the shoulders and shake him, because what the _fuck_ is he thinking? "You _can't_!"

"Not now," Jason agrees, shrugging like he's just said he can't go to the movies. "I know, the old man's too noble and perfect to-"

"You can't do that to _yourself_ , Jay. You can't go near that psycho, not after - I won't lose you again." Dick tries to take a deep breath and can’t quite manage it.

Jason stares. "It's not - well, okay, it's about me. But it's not totally about me. It's about the Joker, and it's about - about Bruce."

"It's about me too, you asshole!" Dick blurts out. "If Bruce kills the Joker, the next thing he's going to do is put a bullet in his own head. You think I want to bury more family?"

"No, he-" Jason starts to protest.

Dick’s vision is going a little blurry. "You didn't see him after we lost you,” he snarls. “You didn't see how close he got to crossing that line, or how much he didn't give a shit if he made it home alive at the end of the night. You don't know anything."

"The Joker is still alive," Jason says, stubborn as ever.

"Excellent powers of observation," Dick shoots back. "He almost wasn't, okay? Bruce almost let him die. And by the way, Riddler’s still around, too. The Penguin is still out there. Two-Face is still alive. Wanna see _my_ scars?"

Dick regrets it the moment he says it. He knows what Two-Face did to Jason's dad; the guy's fondness for baseball bats goes back a long way.

Jason shakes his head. "That's kind of the point I'm trying to make here, Dickie. They need to go - they all need to go."

"Where does it stop? How do you decide which lives are worth it, worth killing for?"

"I was innocent!" Jason shouts.

"Then stay that way. Don't let that maniac win." Dick is nearly begging at this point.

"Too late. It's too late,” Jason says. “You don't know what I've done to get here."

Dick swallows hard. That can't be what it sounds like, and even if it is... "No. It'll be alright, Jay, I know it. Cass... she's killed before, but she came back from it. Bruce let her come back."

"Cass," Jason snorts. "I thought my replacement's name was Tim."

"Your - Tim isn't your _replacement_ , Jason,” Dick says. “God, is that what you think?"

Jason rolls his eyes. "He's Robin. I'm not."

Dick feels his eyes narrow in response. "A few years ago, that was the case with you and me."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out.” Jason leans forward, adjusting the baby in his arms without even looking. “When is he going to stop?"

Dick opens his mouth, but he's suddenly struck by something Jason had said earlier. "Jason - the Pit? The Lazarus Pit?"

Jason's expression goes blank. "Magic, except when it isn't."

Dick wonders if there's a way to say _that's what's making you think all this_ without making Jason bolt. He doubts it, but apparently he's as transparent to Jason now as he ever was.

"I'm not crazy," Jason says. He sounds completely sure of the fact which doesn’t, actually, convince Dick that it’s true.

Dick crosses his arms over his chest. "You think you're completely unaffected by the Pit? You'd be the first."

"Ra's-"

"Isn't really human anymore, little wing, and has had millenia to learn how to deal with the side effects," Dick says. "How long have you been back?"

He wants to know for more than one reason. How long since he's been in the Pit, sure, but more than that, how long has Jason been in Gotham, and they hadn't noticed?

"I don't know,” Jason replies. “I don't remember... before. I just know Talia pulled me out of the Pit."

"Okay, but you have some idea how long ago that was, right?"

Jason glances down at the baby. "Over a year. Less than two."

Dick closes his eyes. More than a year. _Jesus_. And then he wants to punch himself in the face, because of course it’s been more than a year. _How long do you think it takes babies to cook, Grayson?_

"Why didn't you come to me?" Dick asks without looking. "Or call, or - Jay, I would have dropped whatever I was doing to help you out."

Jason rolls his eyes. "I didn't know how to - you're not exactly in the phone book."

"You called me today," Dick replies.

"I have contacts now. Then, I barely knew my own name. I didn’t know _anything_ until Talia told me.” Jason sighs. “It didn't come back all at once. And then-"

"Then what?"

"Then I'd been training with Talia," Jason says, completely nonchalant.

Training. Right. Dick glances down at the baby, and Jason snorts. "No, really. Actual training. I was kind of a wreck. I knew that even if I could call you, you'd tell _him_ , and he'd lock me up. For having the wrong 'associates,' or whatever his buzzword of the month is."

It's the Pit, Dick wants to say. Bruce wouldn't. But Jason wouldn't believe him if he said it.

"I would have come," he says again. "Just me, no questions. Even if you hate Bruce, Jason, you have to know that I would have helped you."

Jason looks away. "You have a new Robin to worry about now."

"No, I don't. Robin is Batman’s concern,” Dick says. “I'm still Nightwing. I'm still me."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not still me." There’s a definite challenge in Jason’s voice.

"I don't care. My parents died in front of me; I knew they were never coming back.” Dick pauses and takes a breath. “And I thought... Bruce was so sure you were never coming back, either. But now you're here and I am not. Letting. You. Go. Understand?"

The baby picks that as her cue to turn away from the bottle and start wailing.

Dick sighs, feeling the smile tugging at his lips despite himself. "Give her here. She probably has to burp."

Jason sighs and hands her over. "I'm really not sure what I'm doing, Dick. Not here, not with her, not about anything."

"Plans change," Dick says. "Make some new ones." He grabs one of the towels from a shopping bag and drapes it over his shoulder, then settles the baby against it and pats her back. "Come on, Jay, think. Improvise. You're better than this."

Jason runs his hands through his hair. "I don't think you're getting it. Everything I've done since I got my head on straight, everything I've planned for and worked towards is useless now."

"Not useless. We just have to figure out how to turn it around."

Jason bows his head, and Dick just waits him out for a minute, watches him breathe.

"I have contacts here," he finally grates out. "People the Bat could never reach."

"Good," Dick encourages. "That's a good thing, Jason. What can we do with those contacts that we can't without?"

"Burn them,” Jason says instantly. “Burn the gangs to the ground."

Dick grins. "I'm going to pretend you don't mean that literally"

"Probably for the best," Jason says, and there’s a hint of a grin on his face, too.

The baby lets out a high pitched little burp and sigh combo before grabbing Dick's shirt in her fist and blinking her eyes.

"What do I do with her?" Jason reaches out and stops just short of touching the baby's cheek. "I mean, I'm not even thinking long-term, I just mean right now."

"Right now you get down on your knees and kiss the ground, because she's awake, she's not crying, and someone else is holding her."

"Mrs. Nelson had a drawer on the floor," Jason says, as if Dick hadn't said anything. "It was stuffed full of old sheets and whatever. That's where she kept her kid."

"Uh," Dick says, "that’s not the best idea. There shouldn't be anything she might suffocate herself on."

"Right. Right, of course, duh,” Jason says, scowling. “Holy fuck, I'm supposed to keep her alive by myself."

"I'm here, okay? I'm here to help you, and to help her." Dick shifts a little. "Maybe you should spend a little time thinking up a name, huh?"

Jason stares at the baby. "That's kind of a big deal, right? Like, I shouldn't just name her the first thing that pops into my head, because she's gonna use that name for her whole life."

"Probably," Dick agrees. "Why, did something pop into your head?"

"No," Jason shoots back all too quickly. Dick just raises an eyebrow at him. "Maybe. It's kinda lame."

"Then save it for a middle name if you don't like it enough," Dick suggests.

Jason shakes his head with a little grin. "When did you get so smart?"

Dick shifts. "I've thought about it. Kids, family, the whole thing. Not recently, but it's crossed my mind. You don't have to tell me," he continues, "but as long as you're not trying to name her, like, Trixie Sparrow Todd, I think you're gonna be fine."

Jason snorts. "Hope. It's a little nineties soap opera, but-"

“It's nice." As a middle name, sure; otherwise it's a little on the nose. "We can pick up a baby name book while we're out," Dick says. "Give you some ideas, maybe."

Jason tenses. "Out?"

"Well, you need a crib for her, and a few changes of clothes," Dick points out. "A playpen to put her in, if you don't want the whole crib thing. Blankets, one of those twirly things that you hang above the crib so the baby has something to focus on. Baby stuff."

Jason opens his mouth, so Dick doesn’t pause. "I'll front you the money," he says. "As soon as you tell Bruce that you're back in town, he'll open your accounts back up, but that's going to take some time." He's smart enough not to say _when Bruce figures it out_. That's what will happen if Jason waits around, no question, but he doesn't have to say it. "And we need to swing by legal aid. Unless Talia left you a birth certificate, we could have a hell of a time if the cops want to see it."

A car seat, Dick suddenly thinks. They’re going to need a car seat. Why the hell didn't Dick buy a car seat already? The simple answer is that they didn't have them on display during his mad dash through the grocery store, but it's a problem now. "Car seat," he says out loud. "I guess I'll run to the store, pick one up, and come back and get you?"

Jason's nose wrinkles. "I'll go knock on a door or two. I've got people who would lend me one if I asked."

Those aren't exactly the kinds of contacts that Dick figured Jason would have, but when he gives it more than a second of thought, he's not actually surprised. Jason always had been more about knowing the people they were helping than he was given credit for. "I'll sit here, you go find a car seat."

Jason takes a look at the baby and nods before heading out the door. She makes a soft noise when the door clicks shut, and Dick smiles down at her.

"Hi." She scrunches her face up at him, like she's trying to concentrate on what he's saying. "I'm your Uncle Dick."

An ominous gurgling starts up from somewhere that is not her mouth, and oh. Apparently not a concentration face; it's an _I'm still pooping and it’s going to be gross_ face, because hey, look at that, her legs are staining black. Beautiful.

Dick makes a face at the baby, who makes a face right back up at him. "You totally waited for your dad to leave, didn't you?" He sighs. Good thing he got diapers, then.

He chatters at her while he changes her. "You know, your dad has no idea what he's doing with you. He's probably gonna mess up a lot, but that's okay, sometimes dads do that. He hasn't even known you for a whole day yet and I can already tell that he loves you.” Dick smiles as he finishes fastening the diaper. “That makes you pretty special, little girl."

She waves her hand around in response, and promptly whacks herself in the face. Her startled annoyance looks a lot like Jason’s “stop hovering, damnit” pout, and Dick’s heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest.

"Your grandpa is going to be really surprised to meet you,” Dick goes on. “I mean, I'm pretty sure he was kind of expecting me to turn up with someone your size, but your dad… well, I don't really know if Bruce thought that far into the future, but I can tell you that right now, he's definitely not expecting anyone like you." He pokes at her fist until she grabs his finger. Reflex, sure, but a really cute one.

The door to the warehouse opens, and Dick turns to find Jason tugging an infant-sized car seat through the door. He smirks in Dick’s direction. "Warping her tiny little mind already, Grayson?"

"Telling her the facts of life," Dick says rather firmly. "She's adorable, and her daddy loves the snot out of her." Dick glances at the garbage can. "And she needs a new outfit, because her last one isn't really wearable anymore."

Jason wrinkles his nose as he sets the car seat down. "So _that's_ what that smell is."

"Babies do that."

"Yeah, I guess. Oh, ew, is that black goop normal?" Jason looks horrified.

Dick grins. "For a little while, yeah. She’ll grow out of it."

Jason's face is hilarious - somewhere between _oh God, what have I gotten myself into?_ and _oh well, better buy a lot of soap._ He sighs and shakes his head after a minute. "So who’s going shopping?"

"All of us. You need to come because it's your kid, and I'm not just sending you to Walmart with a list." Jason's eyes kind of bug at _Walmart_. Dick figures he made the right call.

"But she has nothing to wear," Jason splutters.

"When we get there, I'll run in and grab something and bring it out." DIck shifts the baby in his arms. “For now, though, grab a clean tee shirt you’re not incredibly attached to and bring it here.”

Jason raises an eyebrow but does as asked, pulling a faded Megadeth shirt from a pile near the mattress and handing it over. Dick tries to smell it subtly, but from the way Jason rolls his eyes, he probably failed at that. Dick shrugs with a grin; it smells clean enough, so he lays it out on the mattress and puts the baby in the middle. He wraps the ends up and around the baby, making sure she’s swaddled securely before tucking the ends in and picking her back up. She’s wrapped up like some kind of present; it may have been a while but this is not Dick's first rodeo. He remembers getting frantic calls from Roy when Lian spat up on her last onesie. At least Jason isn't in the habit of leaving fletching all over his warehouse.

“Did whoever loaned that to you tell you how to put it in the car?” Dick asks, nodding at the car seat. Jason nods and grabs the seat, heading for the door. Dick follows him outside, watching carefully as Jason threads the belt through the base of the seat and settles it into the car. Dick leans in and arranges the baby in the seat, pulling the straps snug. He snags his spare jacket off of the floor and drapes it over her legs. “That will do for now.”

Dick drives. Jason huddles in the back seat with his hood up, one hand resting on the baby, and Dick is so busy grinning at him in the rear view mirror he almost forgets to text Babs and tell her he'll be off the grid tonight.

_hey everything is fine but let b know im busy tonite_ , he taps out at the next traffic light. He puts his phone back in his pocket and smiles at Jason in the mirror. “I called in sick,” he says. “We’ll grab whatever you need from the store, and then I’ll hang out and help you get everything set up.” 

Jason blows out a breath. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that, but... thanks.”

“Like I’d just dump everything and drive away,” Dick replies, rolling his eyes. “I remember you and tools, little wing. If it’s not a hammer, it might as well not exist.” He grins at Jason’s scowl. “Cribs are trickier than they look. I can help.” 

It’s another fifteen minutes to the store. As soon as Dick pulls into the parking lot, he spots Tim's car, Roy's motorbike, and the glint of a batarang. Steph? Cass? Who knows. Dick groans as he realizes that he hadn’t included any of the code words for _no, really, everything is actually fine_ in his message to Babs. This is the cavalry, here to save him from a danger that doesn’t actually exist. “Oops,” he says with a sigh. “We have company.” 

Jason immediately tenses and shifts until his body is over the baby, glancing through the windows as his hand slides into his jacket. Dick’s eyes widen. “Not that kind of company. Family-company.” He gestures to the entrance of the store. “Apparently they don’t like it when I play hooky.”

Jason doesn’t relax at the news. “So what now?” 

Dick shrugs. "So, uh, either stay low and let me fend them off, or pick her up and get ready to say hi to the relatives."

Jason slides down in his seat like his spine has turned to jelly.

"Right,” Dick sighs. “One outfit coming right up, hopefully with no family attached." He steps out of the car, and gets almost three full cars away before Roy is in his space.

"Hey. Who's in the back seat?"

Dick shrugs. "I'll tell you if you call off the dogs."

Roy turns around and looks at what is apparently nothing, then makes some sort of gesture. He waits a few seconds and nods before turning back around.

"Walk with me, and try to keep an open mind." Dick power-walks into the store; no extra prying eyes here.

"You're weirding me out," Roy comments as they head into the baby section. "Are you shopping for appeasement gifts for the unwed mother of your illegitimate child? Because I have to say, you're probably better off in the jewelry department."

"It's Jason."

Roy stops dead. "What did you say?"

"It’s Jason in the car. He's not dead. Talia brought him back, and they... there's a baby, a little girl." Dick takes a deep breath and tries for a smile.

Roy just stands there for a minute and stares.

Dick huffs out a laugh. "Yeah, that's pretty much how I reacted. She's real, I held her, she's... Jason's on his own, and I have to help, okay? I have to help him."

"Okay," Roy replies on autopilot, and then blinks. "Jesus. Are you okay?"

"Probably not, but I'll freak out later." He grabs a three-pack of newborn one-piece jumpsuits off of the rack and heads for the counter. "Right now, I have an undead little brother and his very, very tiny and not really clothed daughter in the back of my car, so I need to bring him some clothes for her, and then we're going to buy a crib and some blankets."

Roy stares. "You're freaking out, dude."

Dick makes a sound that’s somewhere between a snort and a sob. "What part of this is not cause for a freak out?"

Roy drags him into a hug. Dick finds himself struggling to breathe, and okay, _there's_ the freak out. His chest is so tight it _aches_. There’s so much to do, so much to talk about and organize and plan for. Who did he think he was kidding? He can’t give Jason advice about this; he can’t even figure his own shit out. He can’t do anything right now except grip Roy’s shirt tight enough to make a serious attempt at popping the seams.

“You need to breathe _out_ at some point,” Roy observes dryly.

Dick gives it a shot - shaky, unconvincing; he can do better - and hey, that does feel a little better. Roy counts him through a long, deep breath in and another long exhale, in and out, in and out, until finally Dick’s feeling steady enough to stand on his own. Mostly.

He waves his meager attempt at shopping like a peace flag. “I think I’m good for now.”

Roy shakes his head. "You're going to need a lot more than three of those."

Dick blinks. "What?"

Roy taps the package of onesies. "Trust me on this: whatever you think you need, double it. How old is she, anyway?"

"Uh. Two or three days, as far as we can tell."

Roy whistles under his breath. "Good thing he called you."

"We borrowed a car seat to get her here, so we're going to need one of those,” Dick says. “They have carts that you can clip a seat to, right?"

Roy smiles. "First thing's first, bird brain: get her dressed."

"Um," Dick says, hesitating. “Dressed. And then we bring her in?”

“Then you bring her in,” Roy confirms. “"I'll start grabbing shit."

Right. Roy doesn't have to watch him go to the car; he has minions. Dick scowls as he heads to the front of the store, paying for the pack of onesies before walking back out to the car.

Jason looks at the package, then the baby, then at Dick. "How do I do this without snapping her in half?"

"Gently," Dick suggests. Jason looks doubtful, so Dick climbs in the back with him and gets the baby out of her seat. "Watch." He lays her down in his lap - God, she's so little her head is almost smaller than his knee - and threads her kicking feet into the legs of the onesie.

When Dick looks up, Jason is frowning at the baby. "Are her legs supposed to do that? It looks like she's getting zapped."

"Well, until a few days ago, she didn't have room to move them at all. She's getting used to it." Dick gently tugs her arms through the arm holes and starts doing up the snaps. He's laser focused; one, two, three, four.

"What are you not telling me?" Jason's voice is low and menacing, and Dick can't really blame him because this situation? Not ideal.

Dick runs his finger gently down the snaps on the baby’s outfit and doesn’t look up. "I’m trying to remember, but I can't. Did you ever meet Roy? Roy Harper. He was Ollie's sidekick when you... before."

"Red hair, smart mouth. Stupid yellow hat," Jason rattles off.

Dick smiles down at the baby. "Yeah. Well, he's inside getting started on the shopping."

There’s a moment of almost calm silence, but when Dick glances up, Jason looks horrified. " _What_?"

"It'll be really helpful, actually,” Dick goes on. “He has a little girl and-"

"We're leaving."

"No, we're not,” Dick says, “because if we do, someone less friendly will track us down."

Jason snorts. "Right, and what makes him _friendly_?"

Dick clears his throat. "Well, uh, he's... a friend. Of mine."

Jason looks completely unimpressed, which is fair.

"He's been here, Jay. He's done the single dad thing, and his little girl is turning out okay. Better than just okay, actually. She's pretty damned amazing.” Dick smiles a little. “Also, when I told him what was going on, he grabbed a shopping cart and started throwing things in. No questions, no hesitation.”

Dick shrugs a shoulder. “If I had a kid of my own and I had questions, Roy is absolutely the first person I'd call," he babbles as he looks back down at the baby. He should have grabbed a blanket inside; she'll probably be chilly. He tucks her back into the tee before glancing back up at Jason. "Fair warning: there are at least two more people watching, so if you want to tell Bruce yourself that you're back, sooner is better than later."

Jason sighs and squints out the window. "I'm guessing one of them is not-quite-me."

"Tim is here, yeah,” Dick replies.

"Okay." Jason tugs at his hood and then holds out his hands. "Gimme. They won't tackle me if I have her."

"They're not going to tackle you unless I signal some sort of trouble." The longer this goes on, the more Dick wishes he had remembered to give Babs the all-clear. Hindsight is a bitch.

Jason scowls and wiggles his fingers. "Yeah, well, she's mine. Gimme."

"Don't forget to support her head," Dick says as he hands the baby over.

Jason rolls his eyes. "Yes, Mom." He unzips his hoodie just enough to tuck her inside. She settles against his chest, fisting her hand in the fabric of his shirt and blinking sleepily into the crook of his neck. Jason smiles a little at that, just a quick twitch of his lips. Dick can’t help but smile in response.

“Let’s get going,” Dick says, opening the door and standing. He can see Tim near the entrance, leaning against the wall of the building, and there’s a flash of blonde hair and eggplant cloth from a few rows over in the parking lot that signals Steph’s presence. He smiles in Steph’s general direction and steps to the side, blocking Jason and the baby from Steph’s view.

Jason zips the hoodie up around the baby and curls his hands protectively around her back before stepping out of the car and following Dick to the store’s entrance.

Dick makes a point of signalling the all-clear when they pass Tim, and Tim nods and slouches back against the building. Dick knows for a fact the headphones he's wearing are linked to Oracle rather than any sort of music player.

When they track Roy down, he's staring at a display of swings with the same concentration he usually gives to a bullseye.

"Allow me to reacquaint you," Dick says brightly; somebody has to pretend to be in a good mood, for the kid's sake if nothing else. "Roy, this is Jason; Jason, Roy."

Roy turns and takes in every detail in a split second. His grin doesn't look forced at all. "It's good to see you again, Jason."

"Yeah," Jason says warily. "You, too."

"Can I see her?" Roy is looking at the bulked-up front of Jason's hoodie. Jason hesitates, looks at Dick for some reason, and reaches in to pull the baby out.

"Oh, look at that. Hi, beautiful." Roy reaches out and brushes his hand over her head. The smile on his face is one that Dick has only ever seen associated with Lian. "We need to get you a hat, huh?"

"A hat?" Jason asks. Apparently Roy has passed some sort of test, because Jason looks a lot less wary.

"It will help keep her warm," Roy says. "It also protects her from sun, wind, whatever. Babies lose a lot of heat through the tops of their heads, though, and she’s still little enough that she doesn’t make a lot of her own."

Dick grins at Jason and doesn't say anything like _I told you so._

"Does she have a name yet?" Roy asks as he pulls his hand back.

Jason shakes his head. "I've had her less than six hours. I don't know her yet."

Roy smiles at that, one of his small, real smiles. "Thinking like a dad already."

"Yeah." Jason is kind of awkward, but the whole situation is so far left of normal that Dick can't really blame him. "Dick says you're the expert on baby stuff."

"My daughter is three," Roy says. "I probably have a bunch of her old stuff that you can have, I'd just need to find it. We'll get you a bunch of stuff now, and then I'll go home and see what I can dig up."

Jason doesn’t follow when Roy starts to walk away. "Why?"

"Why what?" Roy asks, turning back.

"Why are you helping me? Us."

Roy looks straight at Jason. "Dick is like my brother, which makes you family, too. I can't imagine what you've been through, Jason, but I can gather that it hasn't been pretty." He shrugs. "I can make this a little bit easier for you, and help make your kid's life a little better for the time being. It's still gonna be hard, but at least you'll have what you need." He grins suddenly. "And Dick has my phone number, so the first time she leaves you a diaper full of green sludge and you freak out, he can patch you through and I can talk you down. Single dads unite."

"Right,” Jason snorts. “And that way, you can keep an eye on me."

"Do I need to?"

Jason just scowls.

"Look, I'm not perfect either." And then Roy does the very last thing Dick would have expected: he rolls up a sleeve and shows off his old track marks. "But if you want to do this you have to have help."

Jason lets out a breath. "I - okay. Lead on, I guess. God knows I need some sort of tour guide in the land of…" He waves his hand around. "All this."

It gets easier from there. They spend an hour and a half going from aisle to aisle, Roy soliciting Jason's opinions on everything from towels to diapers to strollers to formula brand. Jason keeps protesting that he doesn't _have_ opinions yet, but Roy assures him he will.

Dick is mostly just along for the ride.

"I don't think this is all going to fit in your car," Jason observes when they finally head for the front of the store to check out. He's probably right; between the crib, the playpen, and the stroller, there won't be much room left. Add in all the clothing and toys and whatever else Roy had insisted that they couldn’t leave without getting, and Dick is pretty sure it's at least two trips.

Roy cocks his head. "I can't take much in the saddlebags, but we have someone here with a car."

Jason stiffens and curls his hands protectively around the baby. There's a tense moment before he breathes out and nods. "Might as well, right?"

Dick has to bite his lip hard to stop himself from breaking into hysterical giggles. In the hours since he found out Jason was alive, he's thought of a dozen ways it might go down when he meets Tim for the first time. In the parking lot of a Walmart, surrounded by baby paraphernalia, did not make the list. 

"Are you old enough to drive?" are the first words out of Jason's mouth when they step outside. To be fair, Tim looks young for his age when he's in civilian clothing, and no, he isn't old enough to drive. Technically. Legally.

"Did it stop you?" Tim replies. Dick gives him a lot of credit; he clearly knows who Jason is and the impossibility of the entire situation, but he's not visibly reacting. "I know how to drive, and I've got ID that lets me get away with it." Then he nods at the baby. "Who's this?"

"She’s mine," Jason snaps.

Tim's eyes go round and soft. His fingers twitch. "Would it be okay if I...? I've held kids this little before."

Jason narrows his eyes, but slowly pulls the baby out of her little jacket-cocoon. "Just while we load up the cars."

It’s obvious that Tim has actually held a newborn before; he settles her into the crook of his arm and supports her head perfectly. "Hi, little one." He does the same thing that Dick had done before: he pokes her fist until she grabs his finger in her hand. Dick hasn’t seen Tim smile that widely in a long time.

Jason whistles sharply as he and Roy finagle the crib into the back of Tim’s car. "A little help would be nice, Dickie-bird."

Dick somehow tears his eyes away from Tim and the baby and turns to help load the cars. They manage to get everything in eventually; Dick gives Tim and Roy Jason's address, and Tim gets in and starts heading west. Roy looks at Jason before getting onto his bike. "I need to make a phone call. They know there's no problem, but they're gonna want an explanation."

Jason doesn't answer as he leans over and arranges the new baby blanket around the little girl in her carseat. He untucks it and re-tucks it a few times before standing back up. "Tell O - give her the address. Tell her to send the big guy."

Dick freezes. “Are you sure?”

“Might as well,” Jason says, shrugging far too casually for it to be real. “It has to happen at some point, right? It would be nice if I could know the when and where, instead of going into the kitchen for a bottle and finding Batman at the table.”

“Don’t you want to set all this stuff up first?” he asks, gesturing to the car. “She’s going to need somewhere to sleep tonight, Jason, and it takes time to put a crib together.”

Jason looks over the car at Roy. “Call O, tell her to tell B where we are,” he repeats. “We’ll have time to set everything up after we talk.

Roy nods and slips his helmet on, tapping at a few buttons on his handlebars before pulling out. Dick watches him go before turning to Jason. “Do you really think-“

“I think we should get back to the warehouse,” Jason says. “Twenty bucks says that if we break the speed limit by at least ten miles per hour all the way there, we’ll still only beat the party by fifteen minutes, and his drive is considerably longer.”

Dick laughs weakly as he slides into the driver’s seat. “Probably.”

Jason adjusts the baby’s blanket one last time before sitting beside her and closing his door. Dick starts the car and heads back to the warehouse.

They drive for a few minutes in silence before Jason speaks up. “It’s going to be fine, Dick.”

“Isn’t that my line?”

“Not when you’re the one freaking out,” Jason says. “Which, by the way, is kind of unfair. Today should be my day for freaking out. You can have tomorrow.” He pauses. “Actually, no, I’m claiming tomorrow too. In fact, I’m blocking off the next week and a half. You can have the Friday after that.”

Dick grins, letting a little of the tension go. “Sorry. And yes, you’re right, it’s going to be fine. Who wouldn’t love her?”

“It’s not exactly her I’m worried about,” Jason mutters. “Well, okay, that’s a lie. I’m maybe panicking that Bruce is going to try to take her away.”

“He won’t,” Dick says firmly.

“He might.”

“He won’t do it, though,” Dick says. “She’s yours, Jason. He has no reason to take her, and even less grounds on which to do it.”

“Right, because Batman follows the letter of the law,” Jason says. “He won’t want to take her away the second he sees me just because I am who I am.”

“We’re not going to let him take her away from you,” Dick says. “I won’t, Roy won’t, Tim won’t.” He sighs. “This is why I figured waiting might be better.”

“No, this is better,” Jason replies. There’s a noise that probably indicates Jason rearranging the blanket again. “Like I said, the less cause Batman has to appear in my kitchen unannounced, the better.”

“Amen to that,” Dick says, pulling up outside the warehouse. Tim’s car is almost completely unloaded; by the time Dick shuts the car off and climbs out, Roy is pulling the last few bags from the trunk.

“Get her inside and make up a few bottles,” Roy advises. “The rest of the day is going to be a little crazy. It’ll make it easier if you have a few you can just heat and feed to her without having to worry about mixing them up.” He looks into the bag he’s holding and sighs. “Man, I wish I could’ve found a diaper bag like this for Lian. I searched for months to find a solid-colored one, but only ever found the sparkly unicorn kind.”

Dick snorts. “I wouldn’t let Steph hear you say that; she’d buy Jason one just for the hell of it.”

“How’s he doing?” Roy tips his head to gesture at the back seat, where Jason is... burying his nose in the baby blanket. As they watch, the baby flails a fist and smacks him in the head.

“I think he’s communing, in preparation for Bruce taking her away.”

Roy huffs out a short, bitter laugh. “I can’t figure out if that’s a new-dad thing or an ex-sidekick thing.”

“Hmm?”

“When I brought Lian home, I spent six months waiting for Ollie to take me to court.”

Dick frowns. “Come on, he wouldn’t-”

“Punch me in the face when what I needed was rehab?” Roy asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Bruce wouldn’t-”

“People can surprise you.” Roy scuffs his boot against the asphalt and continues, "I'm not going to let that happen. I'll help him run if need be."

Dick has no idea what to say to that, so he takes a breath and opens the car door. “Come on, Jay. Last one inside gets the next diaper change.”

Jason takes his time unbuckling the baby and sliding her into his lap before starting in on the car seat - leaving no escape route.

Roy lays a hand on Dick's shoulder and leans past him. "She's not going anywhere; you have my word."

Jason rubs his nose against her little hat, tilting it askew. “Yeah, okay.” He sounds distinctly unconvinced, but he steps out of the car and carefully shuffles over to the door.

~~~

Roy takes over the kitchen, Jay takes over the threadbare couch, and Steph crawls through an upper window to perch in the rafters. That leaves Dick and Tim unpacking all the... everything. "Damn, Roy, did you leave anything in the store?" Dick mutters.

Tim rolls his eyes. "He's a regular Boy Scout."

Dick starts snickering - Roy isn't exactly All-American Boy material - and Tim joins in, but Jason doesn't even look up. He has the baby cradled to his chest, one hand dwarfing her tiny head and the other supporting her confidently. And he looks a thousand miles away.

Dick's just opening his mouth to say something when Steph calls out, "Cavalry's here."

Right. Of course. Shit, they're not ready.

Tim gets up and heads for the door, so of course Bruce comes in through the window and almost knocks Steph off her perch.

"Ugh, _men_ ," she says disgustedly as Bruce swings down to the floor.

"What's the meaning of this?" Bruce growls in full-on Bat voice.

Dick stands up and squares his shoulders, lifts his chin, and _possibly_ inches up on his toes a little. "There's someone you need to see."

"You're all off-patrol, and you dragged me down here for a social gathering?"

"Technically I was invited and everyone else crashed," Dick quips. "They're lonely, lost little puppies; you really should throw parties more often."

"Crashed what?" Bruce says shortly, folding his arms over his chest. 

"Uh." Dick gestures wide, encompassing the frankly dilapidated room and the mess of plastic bags. "This."

Out of the corner of his eye he catches movement, and before he can say anything more Jason stands and pivots on his heel.

"Hi." Jason waves. "Long time, no see?" The baby squeaks in protest at the shift of his arm and then settles back against him again. "Also, surprise again, this is my daughter."

Bruce looks around at Dick and Tim, and up at Steph, before turning back to narrow his eyes at Jason. "Who are you?"

Jason picks up the baby's arm and waves it at him. "Hi, I'm Jason Todd, and this is Talia Junior. Well, not really; she doesn't have a name yet. The point stands."

"This is the furthest thing from funny,” Bruce growls. “Who. Are. You."

That's when Dick interrupts. "Bruce. He's who he says he is."

Bruce whirls on him. "You determined that all on your own? How long has he been here?"

Jason pulls himself up to his full height and glares. " _He_ made contact a few hours ago because this place isn't exactly stocked for an infant."

“And where, exactly, did you acquire one of those?" Bruce asks, turning back to look at Jason.

“You don’t listen very well, do you? Some things just don’t change.” Jason shakes his head. "Special delivery from the stork, in the form of Talia al Ghul."

"Right. Why would Talia al Ghul give you a baby?"

Jason snorts. "Good old-fashioned misogyny. Ain't it grand?"

Bruce’s frown is hard enough to break bones. "You're not making any sense at all."

"Well, Brucie, sometimes when a man and a woman bump uglies, shit happens. Right, Roy?"

"Right," Roy calls back from the kitchen.

"And in Talia's case,” Jason continues, “she figured that if dear old dad never wanted a daughter, a granddaughter is dead weight."

"So you're telling me that, at some point, you came back to life, slept with Talia, and are now caring for the daughter you had with her." Bruce's voice is flat. "Let's say that I buy all of that - which, to be clear, I do not - why bring her to you, of all people? She could have left an unwanted baby anywhere."

"She's not unwanted, asshole," Jason snaps. “You didn’t see Talia’s face; if Ra’s finds out about this, if he finds out she snuck around with me, that’s it. She’s dead, the baby’s dead, and I’m dead. One, two, three, within a week, I guarantee it.”

Bruce’s eyes are narrowed. “Why?”

“Because he told her not to. He was iffy about her taking me in in the first place, and she swore up and down: no attachments, no problems, she’d just use me to get to you.”

Bruce tilts his chin up - _I rest my case, your Honor_ \- and says, “How do you know that’s not exactly what _this_ is?”

Jason looks like he’d be throwing his hands in the air if he wasn’t holding the baby close. “You’re not getting it. Talia is shit-scared, okay? She screwed up when she fucked me, because I wasn’t you. She screwed up when she got pregnant, because it wasn’t a boy. She screwed up taking the baby and hiding her from Ra’s, because Ra’s is a psychopath control freak. Jesus, just dunking me in the Pit was betrayal enough-”

"What?" Bruce cuts in, cold and sharp like a blast from Mr. Freeze’s weapon.

"I was a vegetable,” Jason says. “A dangerous one, because I still had all my moves, so she put me in the Lazarus Pit."

Bruce turns to Dick again. "Did you know about this?"

"Well, he told me a few hours ago, yeah," Dick says, nodding.

"And you just let him have an infant?" Bruce sounds incredulous.

"I've been here the whole time!" Dick protests, at the same time as Jason snaps, "Fuck you, she's mine." Dick turns when Jason speaks, but Jason is staring straight at Bruce, eyes narrowed.

"She's my kid, okay? And you can protest and freak out and make all the faces you want, but she is _mine_ , and I want to keep her here with me and raise her right. And I am going to fuck up, and I'm going to call Roy at four in the morning when I can't get her to calm down, and I'm pretty sure I'm actually gonna have to move because this place gets fucking cold in the winter, but I'm doing this, and fuck you sideways if you think that anything you say or do is going to change that."

It's furious, angry as anything, but Jason doesn't raise his voice, doesn't tighten his hands around the baby, doesn't do anything that might upset her. She has her hands clenched in his shirt and is slobbering all over him as he speaks.

There's a long pause before Tim clears his throat. "I’m not sure how much anyone wants my input right now, but I think I'm probably the most qualified person here to look at this whole situation from an outsider's perspective, so I'm just going to do that.” He stops and looks around, but nobody says anything. Tim nods and goes on.

“Bruce, at the end of the day, that's Jason’s daughter, and from what I've been able to see, he's no threat to her. My professional opinion is that you need to back it up a little bit." He turns. "Jason, Bruce isn't being unreasonable about the parentage claim. I know what you're thinking, and I don't doubt that the math fits, but a DNA test isn't going to hurt anyone. It will make you both feel better when you're proven right."

Jason closes his eyes and tilts his head back for almost a full minute before looking back at Bruce. "You let him do the negotiating on the street, right? Because you still suck at it, and he's a quick thinker."

Bruce doesn't smile, not really, but he does relax. "He does more of the talking than I do, yes."

"Good," Jason mutters. "Look, I'm not against a DNA test, if that'll settle your brain."

“It would,” Bruce says immediately, arms finally falling to his sides. “I can’t believe... Jason?”

Jason’s mouth tugs up at one end. “Nineteen years and counting.” He shrugs. “I think so, at least. More or less.” He shifts. “There’s, uh. Some things you need to know. About what I’ve done.”

Bruce’s face twists into a frown again. “Such as?”

“I’ve killed people,” Jason says. His fingers twitch on the baby’s back, like he wants to hold her closer but isn’t sure if he can. “After Talia pulled me out of the Pit, I did some training. Explosives, poisons, different forms of martial arts.” His expression closes a bit. “I ended up killing a few of the guys that I trained with.”

Bruce doesn’t react visibly, but Dick would bet that he’s got some idea of what Bruce is thinking right about now. “How many people?”

“Eight big names, a few thugs for each of those,” Jason says. “They were all scum. I freed a bunch of kids from the first place, got some girls out of more than one of the others.”

Now there’s a sigh. “We don’t-”

“You don’t,” Jason corrects. “I did.” He’s been shifting the whole time, and his stance now is almost defensive. “If you’re going to try to take her away, or-”

“Will you stop?”

Jason’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know. Can’t say I really meant to start.”

Dick can’t move, even can’t speak. The things Jason’s confessing to, and the way Bruce is reacting - dead calm before a storm - have him paralyzed.

"Hey," Roy says gently, stepping up to Jason. "This looks like a tough one. I'll take the kiddo, and we'll have some cuddle time over on the couch while you talk, okay?"

"Yeah," Jason says. "Yeah, good idea." He looks down at the baby and takes a deep breath before slowly handing her over to Roy, and then watching as Roy crosses the room to sit on the couch next to Tim. Then his eyes slide down and away, his gaze slipping across the floor like he's searching for a crevice to hide in. "I just- I don’t understand why I didn't I kill them sooner. The things they did-" Jason presses his lips together, looking for all the world like he's trying not to throw up.

"I won't ask you for details at this point but we will have to discuss it," Bruce says flatly. Almost... gently.

Jason clenches and releases his hands once, twice, and then again, like he’s trying to physically grapple with his memories, until finally he gives up and wraps his arms tightly around himself, squeezing his stomach. "I couldn't- I wanted to help, but I didn't. Not until it was too late. Not until- until I got what I needed."

"That's one of the things I've theorized about the Pit," Bruce says."We've simplified it a lot, said it makes you crazy, but I think it removes a lot of your empathy, at least for a while. So you knew they had to be stopped, but it was a literal knowledge, not a visceral one. You can't be blamed for that, Jason."

"They deserved it. I'm not sorry; they deserved it. Those kids-" He's shaking now.

Bruce takes a step forward, reaching out but stopping just short of touching him. "Focus, Jason. you're in Gotham, and you're with me. It's over."

"It's over," Jason repeats. "I'm in Gotham. Bruce is here, and Dick." Jason's eyes dart around, registering everyone in the room. He squeezes his eyes shut when he looks back at Bruce.

Dick hasn't ever witnessed Jason having a panic attack before. Bruce had mentioned that Jason had tended to focus on things to the point where Bruce needed to draw him out, but this is the first time Dick has actually seen it. It's pretty awful. Dick feels like a peeping tom, like he's watching Bruce and Jason through a telephoto lens. He's never seen this side of either of them, and he's pretty sure that was by design on both their parts.

It's the first time he really _gets_ that Bruce and Jason had a partnership, a unique relationship. He takes a step back, trying to ease his way out of a space that clearly isn't for him, but Jason opens his eyes and looks straight at Dick before he takes another. 

"Dick?"

"I'm here. It's over, Jay," he echoes. ""You're home, and-" Dick swallows hard, bracing himself to go out on a limb before he whispers, "You're not a kid anymore."

Bruce shoots him a look, but Jason nods. "I'm not a kid anymore," he repeats. He looks at his hands and frowns. "I _have_ a kid. I - where is she?"

"She's safe," Roy pipes up from halfway across the room - where he's apparently been letting the baby grab fistfuls of Tim's hair, judging by the state of it. Roy turns so Jason can see the baby tucked into his arms. "She's in need of a diaper change, but I can take care of that."

It figures. Roy wasn't much of a baby person until he had a kid; now he's a total cuddle hog. Dick watches him and tries not to melt into a puddle of goo, because damnit, Roy is adorable with kids. She starts fussing when Roy finishes doing up the snaps on her onesie, and Roy picks her up as he looks at Jason. “She’s probably hungry.”

Jason heads into the kitchen to get a bottle; Roy, the sly bastard, takes advantage of the lull to volunteer Tim and Steph to go get pizza. He doesn’t even look up from re-swaddling the baby, just basks in the confidence that they’ll do as he says.

And then, as Dick watches in what feels like slow motion, Roy stands up, strides across the room, pivots, and slides the baby into Bruce’s arms. Seconds later Jason comes back and just... freezes. "Uh. It's a good look on you, Grandpa."

Bruce freezes more, somehow. "I... oh. Does she - what were you thinking of calling her?"

Jason shrugs. "Haven't gotten that far yet. I was kinda busy with getting her clothes and food and someplace to sleep."

Bruce nods. "Probably best, yes."

"Speaking of which," Roy pipes up, and claps his hands together. "Who's up for some manly furniture assembly?"

Dick snatches the baby from Bruce and pokes him in the shoulder. "I'll watch her. You go assemble a crib to bat-standards." It’s been hours since he last held her, and watching Bruce with her made his fingers twitch - babies are one thing Batman is _not_ a natural at, which is both hilarious and appropriate.

"Bat-standards?" Jason snorts, dropping to the couch next to Dick. "You know he's going to whip out, I don't know, a protractor or something, right?"

"And reinforce the hinges with cement, yeah, I know."

"They'll be at it for hours," Jason says. "I hope they know they have to finish before I need to crash for the night. Kid needs a place to sleep." He reaches out and puts a hand on her back, and she blinks at him from her spot on Dick's chest.

"Good thing we have food on the way. We can't have your Dad getting cranky," Dick stage-whispers down at her.

“Your Uncle Dick's sense of humor gets worse when he forgets a meal," Jason says seriously, still looking right at her. "We need to make sure he eats on a regular schedule, or he'll break out the puns."

"Aww, why you got to be like that, baby?" Dick says as he jiggles her.

She sneezes as if on cue, and Jason grins. "She likes me better."

"Only until she gets tired of being called 'she'. I think I'll call her... Wanda."

Jason's face is the textbook definition of horrified. "Don't even think about it, Grayson. I don't want that to stick."

"He's a wanderer, yeah a wanderer..." Dick starts singing.

Jason rolls his eyes before looking back at the baby. "I was thinking, actually. I'm not completely sure, but I might have a name."

Dick snaps his mouth shut mid-lyric. Never let it be said that he doesn't know when a joke's over.

"I mean, I'm not sure or anything, but… parents, you know?" Jason lifts his eyes and looks past Dick, into the room where Bruce is watching with folded arms as Roy sits on the floor, sorting pieces of crib. Dick grins at the sight before looking back at Jason, whose focus is back on the baby. "I want to name her after my mom. My real mom, the one who looked after me, not - Catherine. I want to name her something like Catherine."

"Catherine Hope Todd," Dick says, trying it out. "That's a good name, Jay."

"Not Catherine. I want her to have her own name, not all this baggage from a dead chick. But- I don't know, Katie or something like that. Not a hero name, either."

"We'll figure it out."

"Yeah," Jason says, looking up from the baby to smile tentatively at Dick. "Yeah, we will."


End file.
